VHI’s discount plan revealed

The one-off tailor-made scheme is available for only another week and is believed to be aimed at winning a lucrative corporate contract

V
HI has been selling a deeply discounted health insurance plan behind the backs of its 1.3m customers for the past three weeks — even though the policy offers better benefits and would save €1,300 a year for a family with two children.

The one-off tailor-made plan, available for only another week, is believed to be aimed at winning a lucrative corporate contract.

Community rating prevents health insurers from offering special deals for low-risk customers, such as young people in good health. VHI’s new cut-price plan is theoretically available to anybody who asks for it, but the state-owned insurer has done nothing to promote it beyond its intended target.

Dermot Goode of HealthInsuranceSavings.ie, an adviser, said: “This raises questions about the integrity of community rating. What VHI is doing is legal and makes commercial sense. Customers are being kept in the dark, though, because these one-off plans are made available only at